Learning BeekeepingThe art of beekeeping2015-06-02T21:19:14Zhttp://learningbeekeeping.com/feed/atom/mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=14812015-06-02T21:19:14Z2015-06-02T21:19:14ZMay 30 – Here is how the garden looks. We’ve survived 7 inches of rain and a flood so far.

The watermellons are doing well in the raised beds in between the corn.

The Arbequina tree is still only 1 foot tall, but new growth is happening. Deep pipe irrigation.

This pluot tree gets more shade, I don’t know why it has grown most. In the background you see the solar wax melter.

This tree also gets some shade, but it isn’t a vigorous as the others.

The far left grapevine in the most sun is doing well. The idle hydroponics is in the background.

]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=14612015-04-22T00:59:23Z2015-04-22T00:15:19ZSpring is a busy time for beekeepers, especially if you have a garden as well. I may not be a great gardener, but I do keep a garden, and this year I’m trying to expand and use less water too.

I’ve got a few volunteer plants coming up that I want to keep. One is a pecan tree next to my rain barrels, I’m going to have to transplant this one farther from the house.

While I’m not a big fan of concord, it was just $8 at home depot, and it was the last one that seemed alive.

I’ve put in drip irrigation but converted the emitters to go into deep pipe irrigation. So I really have deep pipe, but with controlled 1/4″ feed tubing.

Garlic and a cantelope? seedling in a wick irrigation bucket.

One of 3 plutot trees in the yard. This one is down slope with least amount of sun. I’ll cut back some scrub trees to open up canopy for it.

Olive treeling in foreground, pluot tree back left and raised bed garden in back right.

Tomatoes with deep pipe. One deep pipe in between 2 plants. We’ll see how they do.

This top of the raised bed has corn and deep pipe irrigation. If I was a good scientist, I’d use it as a control vs the automatic watered deep pipe irrigation. But I’m lazy, I hooked it into the line today.

Low impact corn, 3×3 planting. Experiment on how well the corn grows in 7″ soil.

Deep pipe irrigation fed by 1/4 drip irrigation line. The pipe goes 18″ into the soil and only gets watered for 1minute every 2 days.

Deep pipe irrigation is the most water efficient means of irrigation as tested by several universities. It is even more efficient than roman ceramic pot irrigation.

The ancient Egyptians were said to placed the hives on boats, and drifted along the Nile to provide the bees with fresh flowers on the banks. They did this when the bees had spent or depleted the flowers in any given area, to insure that honey would still be of plenty… Due to Egypt’s terrain there was little pastures for the bees in Egypt. There were no forests or meadows with wildflowers growing. So, the rivers edge provided the bees with many different species of flowers to collect their nectar. Ancient Egypt far less vegetation than it does today. Ancient Egypt also had its lotus flower, which considered sacred, and was known to provide honey that was superior in flavor.

The inhabitants of Lower Egypt knew that the blooming of fruit-trees, and flowers of Upper Egypt preceded theirs by several months. Toward the end of October, the villagers embarked on boats or rafts, packed with pyramided hives, and brought them down the Nile into Upper Egypt, just at the time when the inundations had subsided and the flowers had begun to bud. The bees soon exhausted the supply of nectar two or five miles around a new locality; then the floats were moved to another station and remained there as long as it proved desirable. These wanderers returned to their homes about February, the hives well-stocked with honey, gathered from the orange blossoms of Said and Arabian jesamine. The hives were carefully numbered and delivered to their respective owners. Niebuhr reported seeing such a flotilla of four thousand hives on the Nile…. continued on source webpage.

]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=14172013-04-06T23:42:18Z2013-04-06T23:41:35ZFinally picked the winners of the T-shirt contest, then realized as soon as I announced the winners I would have people wanting shirts. So I’ve already got the shirts set up on Printfection! Now, I just need to finish the video and post!
]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=14122013-02-20T07:06:52Z2013-02-20T07:06:52ZA nifty short 3 minute news clip on Berlin beekeeping on rooftops. What a great effort to put hives on famous buildings!
]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=14062013-02-12T19:50:07Z2013-02-12T19:50:07ZI was in a museum near Monterrey, CA over the holiday break. I saw something odd that I wanted to share.

For those of you who don’t live in the US, an albatross is a bird found near oceans. The beek makes for a useful wax holder.

]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=13962013-01-17T18:42:19Z2013-01-17T18:38:41ZA fellow beek from Poland read my swarm trapping book and built a trap. It caught bees, but under it. I’ve seen this happen before. I’m interested in seeing if we, as a beekeepers, can figure out the common denominator of why.

Has anyone else built a trap that caught bees under it? How large was your entrance hole? How large was the swarm? How big was the trap?

I’m looking to see if there is a trend. In his photo, and from his video I see a undersized hole and a huge swarm.

If anyone else has caught a underslung swarm, please comment below with the:

How large was your entrance hole? (i.e. 1″ diameter)

How large was the swarm? (ie. small/medium/big/huge/it-carried-off-the-trap)

]]>4mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=13712012-12-11T02:57:23Z2012-12-11T02:54:50ZI was out in a field north of Houston and saw Indian Blanket blooming on Dec 8. Also known as Firewheel, this is the main honeyflow plant during APRIL in Texas. So I took a picture to show you how bitter cold our winters can be. :0)
]]>0mccartneyhttp://deep-web.orghttp://learningbeekeeping.com/?p=12922012-11-21T06:52:51Z2012-11-21T01:59:17ZI’ve been working for a while on a design for a smoker that is appropriate for third world beekeeping. The focus was on steel food cans that are ubiquitous in all countries. The can comprises the fire chamber.

Design done

I intend to make a complete video on the construction and manufacturing of this. In my own way, I want to improve the planet. I think a simply designed smoker will help many low income beekeepers throughout the world.